Unforgettable January Adventures: Explore NYC in 2025!

Sarah Silverman

Jan. 17-18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, Manhattan; msg.com/beacon-theatre.

Since the early ’90s, Sarah Silverman has boldly challenged limits, discovering humor regardless of the topic. Her sharp sarcasm and impeccable delivery enabled her to gain recognition with the concert film “Jesus Is Magic” in 2005, accumulated 10 Emmy nominations along with two accolades, and remains active in her craft: She occasionally guest hosts “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, and currently oversees “Stupid Pet Tricks,” TBS’s adaptation of David Letterman’s cherished skit.

In her newest stand-up performance, “Postmortem,” which she has toured nationwide and will record at the Beacon Theater this weekend, she confronts perhaps her greatest challenge: the passing of her father and stepmother, who died within days of each other in May 2023. Whether discussing childhood trauma in her memoir, “The Bedwetter,” which is set to be adapted into a musical opening in Washington in February, or exploring antisemitism in her HBO special from 2023, “Someone You Love,” Silverman has demonstrated an ability to transform distressing issues into insightful humor.

Tickets commence at $29.50 on Ticketmaster. SEAN L. McCARTHY

Ovlov is a resilient band reminiscent of a boomerang. Originally established in 2008 by three siblings and their childhood companion, this ensemble has survived numerous dissolutions and lineup revisions, often going significant periods without producing music. Nonetheless, it continually resurfaces, much to the joy of its dedicated yet small fanbase. Throughout the years, the band’s sound has retained high energy and precision, characterized by compact tracks where subtly catchy tunes intertwine with thick guitar riffs and intense dynamics.

Ovlov will share the stage with the rock group Speedy Ortiz at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, marking a form of reunion: Sadie Dupuis, who leads Speedy Ortiz, regularly collaborated with Ovlov during its formative years. Low Healer and the post-punk quartet Grass Is Green will also be a part of the lineup.

The event is sold out, but resale tickets can be found on AXS. OLIVIA HORN

Classical

PRISM Quartet With Miguel Zenón

Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 120 West 69th Street, Manhattan; prismquartet.com.

The saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón not only pays tribute to tradition but also forges something novel from it. After delving into the musical legacy of his homeland Puerto Rico, he assembled what he designates the “Puerto Rican Songbook,” and subsequently reinterpreted this history into his unique sound. This Sunday at Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Zenón collaborates with the all-saxophone PRISM Quartet for the world premiere of his composition “El Eco de Tambor” (“The Echo of a Drum”), which explores the rhythmic aspects of the saxophone by referencing drumming customs from West Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond.

The PRISM Quartet has commissioned a wide array of contemporary pieces from numerous talented composers, yet the members find a distinct and gentler tempo when collaborating with Zenón’s clear melodies. Alongside three other compositions by Zenón, including a delicate, beautiful piece entitled “The Missing Piece,” they celebrate a decade of artistic partnership. A Broadway surprise awaits as well: an all-sax rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.”

Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, beginning at $10, on the quartet’s site. GABRIELLE FERRARI

‘The Iron Giant’

Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, Manhattan; filmforum.org.

A title like “The Iron Giant” might lead you to believe that the narrative revolves around a fairy-tale giant. However, the enormous character in this animated feature shares more similarities with E.T. than with an irritable creature atop a beanstalk.

Arriving in Rockwell, Maine, from outer space in 1957, he is an enormous robot that sustains himself by consuming metal, a diet that poses certain risks around vehicles and train tracks. Nevertheless, Hogarth Hughes, a local 9-year-old, discovers that the giant holds a gentle soul, and their shared adventures evolve into a poignant tale advocating for acceptance and opposing nuclear armament. (A Cold War government agent investigating the case suspects the robot to be a Soviet weapon needing proper handling.)

Director Brad Bird (“The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille”) adapted this, his inaugural feature, from “The Iron Man,” a children’s novel by the British poet Ted Hughes. Released in 1999, “The Iron Giant” returns to cinemas as part of Film Forum Jr., a series aimed at introducing young audiences to cinematic masterpieces of all types.

Tickets are priced at $13. LAUREL GRAEBER

New York Jewish Film Festival

Running until Jan. 29 at Film at Lincoln Center, located at 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan; filmlinc.org.

A joint effort between Film at Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum, this yearly festival focuses on contemporary films, though the curators typically ensure that a genuine gem from former times is included. This year, a silent film appropriately titled “Breaking Home Ties” (screening on Sunday), created in 1922 at Betzwood Studios in Pennsylvania, aims to combat antisemitism in the United States, as indicated by the film’s restoration title cards. The narrative revolves around a Jewish family in Russia whose son, David (Richard Farrell), an ambitious lawyer, must escape to America. His family ultimately immigrates without his knowledge of their location.

Also featured this week are Barbara Albert’s “Blind at Heart” (on Monday and Wednesday), tracking a Jewish physician (Mala Emde) in Weimar Berlin as she adopts a new identity during the Holocaust; and Joy Sela’s documentary “The Other” (on Wednesday), portraying Israelis and Palestinians striving for peace, filmed from 2017 up until recently. Screenings marked as standby on the site will have rush lines available at the entrance before showtime. BEN KENIGSBERG

Final Opportunity

‘Our Town’

Until Jan. 19 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, Manhattan; ourtownbroadway.com. Length: 1 hour 45 minutes.

Kenny Leon revives Thornton Wilder’s intricate drama on Broadway, featuring Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) in the role of the Stage Manager. Zoey Deutch and Ephraim Sykes portray the young couple, Emily Webb and George Gibbs, alongside Richard Thomas and Katie Holmes as Mr. and Mrs. Webb; Billy Eugene Jones and Michelle Wilson as Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs; Donald Webber Jr. as Simon Stimson and Julie Halston as Mrs. Soames. Read the review.

Critic’s Selection

‘Oh, Mary’

Running until June 28 at the Lyceum Theater, Manhattan; ohmaryplay.com. Length: 1 hour 20 minutes.

Embodying the vividly outrageous and boldly queer downtown essence of Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatrical Company, this comedy by Cole Escola (“Difficult People”) originated as a bubbly Off Broadway success. Escola portrays a tipsy, theatrical Mary Todd Lincoln — a volatile figure largely overlooked by her husband (Conrad Ricamora), the president, who is preoccupied with a variety of sexual escapades and the troubling Civil War. Read the review.

Critic’s Selection

‘Gypsy’

At the Majestic Theater, Manhattan; gypsybway.com. Length: 2 hours 55 minutes.

Taking over the role first established by Ethel Merman, Audra McDonald steps into the formidable character of Momma Rose in the fifth Broadway revival of Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim’s acclaimed 1959 musical about a vaudeville mother and her daughters: June, the beloved child, and Louise, who becomes the burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. Directed by George C. Wolfe, with choreography by Camille A. Brown, the cast features Danny Burstein, Joy Woods, Jordan Tyson, and Lesli Margherita. Read the review.

‘The Outsiders’

At the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, Manhattan; outsidersmusical.com. Length: 2 hours 25 minutes.

Musical rival gangs that aren’t the Sharks and the Jets? Here we have the Greasers and the Socs, motivated by social hostility just as depicted in S.E. Hinton’s 1967 young adult novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film. Set in a reimagined Tulsa, Oklahoma, where characters have names like Ponyboy and Sodapop, this new adaptation features the stormy rumble you’ve heard whispers about. It garnered four Tonys, including best musical and best direction by Danya Taymor. With a book written by Adam Rapp in collaboration with Justin Levine, it includes music and lyrics from Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine. Read the review.

Critic’s Selection

‘Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies’

Until Jan. 19 at Brooklyn Museum, located at 200 Eastern Parkway; brooklynmuseum.org.

This extensive and thrilling retrospective examines Elizabeth Catlett’s extraordinary life and career while highlighting her radical ideals. There are various perspectives to portray the artist and activist — for instance, her lack of recognition from the dominant art sphere — but the curators delve into the core, candidly addressing her mission as she perceived it. Through her art, we witness raised eyes and fists, mothers supporting their children, depictions of icons like Sojourner Truth or Frederick Douglass; yet also sharp perspectives, volumetric differences, and haunting negative spaces. Read the review.

‘Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350’

Until Jan. 26 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan; metmuseum.org.

This stunning glow-in-the-dark exhibition stands as a visual experience of pure 24-karat magnificence and a multi-layered academic triumph. In both aspects, we will be fortunate if the season presents anything comparable. It is also rare in additional ways. As a significant exploration of early Italian sacred art, it represents a kind of display we previously encountered frequently in larger museums, but now seldom see. Read the review.

‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’

Running until Feb. 23 at the Shed, located at 545 West 30th Street, Manhattan; theshed.org.

This re-creation of a fair held in Hamburg, Germany, during the summer of 1987 — featuring carnival rides adorned by artists like Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, which are regrettably cordoned off — offers its most significant delights to attendees with more artistic-historical interests. Packed with educational wall texts, this event — or is it an exhibition? — documents yet scarcely replicates a long-forgotten cultural venture that “blurred the boundaries between art and play.” Thirty-seven years later, at the Shed, those boundaries remain largely distinct. Nearly everything is retained on the “art” side. The overall ambiance feels strangely tranquil, hardly resembling the bustling midway I anticipated. Read the review.